A Fond Farewell: A Tribute to ‘Laverne & Shirley’s David L. Lander
June 22, 1947–December 4, 2020
Squiggy: The name alone brings a smile. David L. Lander’s signature character on ABC’s 1976–83 comedy hit Laverne & Shirley stole many a scene, his leather-jacketed macho bravado betrayed by a squeaky voice. But he didn’t do it alone.
Squiggy’s partner in slapstick, Lenny, was played by longtime friend Michael McKean. Together, they created the ridiculously endearing misfit duo while in college at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.
Besides revisiting Squiggy in Scary Movie and The Simpsons, Lander was an in-demand voice actor, in films (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and on television. His last voice role was as Rumpelstiltskin in Disney Junior’s Goldie & Bear, which starred his daughter, Natalie.
Lander, who died of complications from multiple sclerosis at age 73, had lived with the illness for decades, going public in 1999 and writing the memoir Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody.
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